Tagalog Language of Philippines

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I was laughing, I said hello to some cleaning languages in the hallway of my Guesthouse, they was working in an apartment above me. Well, they said,
"Hi, how are you?"

I thought, hmm... the world standard "I-LEANED-IN-SCHOOL" answer is,
"Fine, thank you, and you."

This is the text book answer to hello, so most people that study English as a second language say this, and nothing personal.

This is the cleaning people, I talk to anyone.

She ask me,
"Do you speak Tagalog?"

I thought or wanted to remember:
http://www.hobotraveler.com/2005/11/bakit-hindi-why-not-philippines.html

Bakit Hindi in the Tagalog Language however I have been out of the Philippines for a month or more and already forgot my two word volcabulary.

However, I said,
"How many foreigners speak Tagalog?"

She said,
"Vietnamese people."

Hmm... She go me, this is a foreigner, however I tend to think of Foreigners as only westernized people, a not so good perception as the Philippines is full of Koreans, Japanese and Chinese. I am in a Korean Internet Cafe.

I suppose on hindsight it was bad manners on my part to say this... Tagalog is an important language to her, however it looks like only 10 million people on the planet speak this language so very low on the need to learn list.

On the other hand the question is normal, they want to know if I speak Tagalog, I have yet to meet on Foreigner that speaks Tagalog and for that matter, I have not met one that has learned my two word volcabulary, so I am an expert for Foreigners that speak Tagalog.

After typing this I should remember or maybe remember how to spell the word.

Language is a culture, the culture expresses itself in the way they think, then when the talk it is the culture.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tagalog_language

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Reader Submitted Comments | Deleted Comments (0)

Anonymous said on Monday November 28th, 2005 03:47:00 AM

I hope you are not grumpy anymore. I am wondering why you are such a bad speller and your grammar is quite bad also. Is it because you're in a hurry and you're making lots of typing mistakes or is it because you just don't know the right grammar and spelling for some things? I am trying to improve my English and I like to read things by native speakers. But, I think you are a bad teacher (hee hee).

Ed Abbey said on Monday November 28th, 2005 08:07:00 AM

I am well beyond expert level then since I know perhaps a hundred or more tagalog words. But then, I am married to a Filipina so I have more reason to learn it than most foreigners.

Andy HoboTraveler.com said on Monday November 28th, 2005 06:11:00 PM

I am not the person to learn English from...However, better than listening to Rap Music or Hip Hop.The reasons are many, the bottom line is this is my journal. I would not go and spend hours making my journal look good. It is for me, not for you, you just have the ability to read it.

Anonymous said on Friday August 24th, 2007 07:22:00 AM

hey im a foreigner im from new zealand and have no filipino blood in me but i studied the language back in 2003 and i can onestly say that im fluent in tagalog! i even got to the point where i would correct filipinos on their word usage and grammar! it takes alot of work but it is possible..... cokestar_@hotmail.com